


Surprises and Presents

by 14hpgirl19



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Philinda Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5502803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/14hpgirl19/pseuds/14hpgirl19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Phil had been there, she wouldn’t have felt the need to complete busy work. She would just spend her days sitting in his office, simply enjoying his presence.</p>
<p>But see, that was the thing. He wasn’t there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprises and Presents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mandergee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandergee/gifts).



> For sunshine-and-the-catsuit: Happy holidays! I'm sorry we didn't get to message much, but I hope you enjoy this!

Melinda resisted the urge to sigh as she stacked another pile of old SHIELD files. It was boring work, but someone had to do it. Things had been quiet around the base for a few weeks (a miracle in and of itself), and Melinda was now turning to clerical work to prevent herself from dying of boredom.

If Phil had been there, she wouldn’t have felt the need to complete busy work. She would just spend her days sitting in his office, simply enjoying his presence.

But see, that was the thing. He _wasn’t_ there.

Phil had been all over the place during the last few weeks. One day he would be there, and the next he would be gone. This wasn’t necessarily new behavior for the strung-out Director, but because of the downtime they’d miraculously been granted, it was curious.

What was even more curious was Daisy’s involvement in it all. On the rare days where Phil was present at the Playground, Melinda had caught him talking with Daisy in hushed tones. They would stop talking whenever someone else entered the room, and that included Melinda. She was torn between being pleased they were on good terms again and being frustrated at them for excluding her.

Melinda had thought that by now, with Ward gone and most pressing threats contained (for the time being), she would have her family back. They could finally be reunited and spend some much needed time together. But so far, nothing of the sort had happened.

As it turns out, that was the night that changed.

The stacks of files were beginning to reach maximum height by the time Daisy popped her head into the room. She looked around at the clutter, no doubt thinking how much better it would all be if she could just upload everything.

“What?” Melinda asked.

“Could you come downstairs?”

Melinda didn’t look up from the report she was poring over. “Why?”

“Just because?”

“Daisy.”

Melinda was positive she heard the girl stomp her foot. “Just come on, May! Please?”

She certainly didn’t want to stay amongst the dusty files. Shutting the folder, Melinda followed Daisy downstairs. Just before the bottom floor came into view, Daisy stopped and turned to face Melinda.

“Something wrong?” Melinda asked. Daisy hesitated for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Daisy?”

Daisy turned her head to the side. “Are we almost ready?”

A moment later, a familiar voice called, “Yeah. Everyone can come in now.”

A bright, eager smile spread across Daisy’s face, and she moved to the side so Melinda could pass her. Casting a suspicious look at her protégé, Melinda slowly moved down the remaining steps and into the lounge area.

She stopped short at the sight. Christmas lights hung all over the room, as did what appeared to be sprigs of mistletoe. An inflatable Frosty the Snowman stood in one corner of the room. Stockings for everyone on the team were haphazardly attached to the wall. Fake piles of snow had been strewn about.

In another corner was their Christmas tree, and it was what made Melinda do a double-take.

“You picked a red one?” she asked, looking at Daisy. The younger agent blushed.

“No, _he_ did.” She nodded toward the center of the room, where Phil stood with a Santa hat on his head and a large bag of gifts. He smiled sheepishly at Melinda when he saw her raised eyebrow.

“It was all I could find.”

Melinda walked the rest of the way into the room. On the other side, the rest of their team – family – did the same, taking everything in with looks of awe and amusement. Hunter poked Frosty with a baffled expression on his face.

“I didn’t even know they made red Christmas trees,” Melinda murmured to Phil as their surrogate children busied themselves with getting the party started. Someone – probably Daisy – started playing some music, the room suddenly being filled with jaunty, happy tunes.

Phil shrugged. “I didn’t question it. I just wanted a tree.”

“You mean you wanted a Christmas.”

He sent her a sidelong glance. “I just thought we deserved one. After everything, we deserve this.”

“Believe me, I agree. We haven’t been together in a long time.”

“Exactly.” Phil sighed. “I just wanted to do this one normal thing. Have one day where we can pretend we don’t lead the lives we do.”

Melinda smiled. “I think it’s perfect. It’s exactly what we need.”

“So you’re not upset Daisy and I kept you out of it?”

She pretended to think it over, enjoying the anxiety in his eyes. “No, I’m not. The surprise was kinda nice.”

“I thought you didn’t like surprises.”

Melinda shrugged. “This one is fine.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

For a few minutes, they simply stood and watched their agents dart around the room and be consumed by the holiday spirit. Daisy brought out the food, and Hunter brought out the alcohol. Impromptu sing-alongs were conducted when Christmas classics came on, and presents were distributed.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Phil said quietly while the others were distracted with a wrapping paper war. “But your present is upstairs.”

Melinda felt warm fluttering in her stomach, but she pushed it away. “You didn’t need to get me anything.”

“Of course I did. Shall we go?”

Casting one last look around the room to make sure no one would miss them, the two senior agents disappeared upstairs. Phil led her to his office, where he dug around in his desk drawer for the present.

“I swear,” Melinda warned, “if it’s another Captain America bobble head…”

“Don’t worry,” Phil said. “I learned my lesson with that. Though, Cap did help with this.”

Finally locating the present, he joined her by the table at the middle of the room and held it out. It was a small package, just enough to fit into her palm. Tearing at the paper, she opened the box and examined what was inside.

“I read once that Cap kept Peggy’s picture inside his compass. I just thought… maybe…” He shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged.

Inside the box was a silver locket. It contained a picture of the whole team, taken before the war with the Inhumans. Everyone looked happy, and if Melinda didn’t know any better she would say they were a regular family.

“It’s beautiful, Phil.” She looked up at him, her smile positively shining. “Thank you.”

Phil exhaled loudly. “You’re welcome. I was afraid you wouldn’t like it.”

“Just having everyone around to celebrate is a good enough present for me.”

He grinned. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. Speaking of that, should we go back down?”

Part of Melinda wanted to stay up there with Phil, but she nodded anyway and followed him back downstairs. They paused at the bottom to watch Daisy and Bobbi pummel Mack and Hunter with balls of wrapping paper.

“Look at our family,” Phil said with a sigh. “Are we sure we want them?”

Melinda was about to respond when Daisy squealed loudly. She pointed at the space above Melinda and Phil’s heads, and Melinda’s heart skipped a beat. Dangling above them was mistletoe, just waiting to trap an unsuspecting couple.

In this case, that would be them.

“You have to kiss,” Daisy declared, unrestrained glee dancing across her face. Everyone stopped talking, eager to see the action.

Melinda’s throat was dry. She chanced a look at Phil to see him smirking in her direction. She swallowed.

“Guess we can’t really avoid it, huh?” he asked.

She knew full well they could if they truly wanted to, but the sparkle in his eyes told her he certainly didn’t want to.

And she _definitely_ didn’t want to.

The room exploded in cheers as Melinda stepped forward and planted her lips on Phil’s. He brought his real hand up to caress her cheek while the prosthetic cradled her back. She pressed as close as she dared with everyone else watching.

“Merry Christmas, Melinda,” Phil whispered once they parted. She ducked her head and held him close.

“Merry Christmas, Phil.”


End file.
